Coronavirus E-Mich #5 -«What is at stake for Africa ?»

Mardi intime de la Chaire Hoover par Kebadu Mekonnen (Addis Abeba) & Thierry Ngosso (Yaounde/St Gallen)

Coronavirus: what is at stake for Africa?

Should African countries follow by the letter the WHO guidelines in response to Covid-19? Does one size fit all considering the peculiar ways in which the crisis might affect each country in Africa?

Societies already burdened with socio-economic and political challenges, need to make hard choices. With respect to that, one moral concern relates to how to balance efforts at preventing the spread of Cornavirus without having to smuggle in the specter of hunger that a possible collapse of the fragile economies in Africa might entail.

What does collective responsibility require when the individual liberties any collective endeavor presupposes do not have a strong foothold in many African countries? Would it be fair and practically feasible to demand poor citizens sacrifice their quotidian chores necessary for securing the things that sustain their lives? How does the responsibility of the global community figure in the fight against Covid-19 in a continent with limited health care (eg., for a population of 110 million people Ethiopia earmarked 54 ventilators out of the available 450 for Covid-19, South Sudan has three ventilators but five Vice Presidents, there are more MPs than Ventilators in Kenya) and economic capacities? African countries’ unique demographic landscape can also serve as a segway for exploring the need for a shift in thinking about the coronavirus pandemic from the African vantagepoint. The majority of the continent’s population (estimate of 1.3 billion) is below 24 years old (ca. 60 %), where the working age population (25-64) constitutes 36.5% and older persons (above 65) a meagre 3.5%. What does that entail for a sound response to this global pandemic? Many commentators suggested that Africa’s younger demographic profile shields the continent from the worst projections of loss due to the spread of coronavirus. Is there any validity to such claim? On the contrary, one might argue that the virus’ disproportionate effect on the older and vulnerable could have catastrophic socio-political consequences. That may exacerbate what might be called Africa’s perpetual peter pan syndrome.

Moreover, the idea of a household characteristically takes a wider meaning, and in many of the meaningful activities in life people principally rely on traditional institutions over their civil and political counterparts. These institutions encompass services from social safety nets to funeral processions within their purview. Can we adequately combat this pandemic without effective engagement with these institutions?

After providing some basic facts/statistics about the current state of the COVID19 outbreak in Africa, we will launch our discussion by discussing those ethical challenges (and others) based respectively on the Ethiopian and Cameroonian contexts.